Summary of Shootings in 2018

In 2018, a total of 340 shootings occurred in the United States. A total of 373 people were lost and the city most impacted (impact is measured as the sum of victims killed and victims injured) was Pompano Beach (Parkland). Further analysis was done broadly dividing the United States into two reigons; West and East of the Mississippi. The longitude used to create the regions was -90 degrees. East of the Mississippi, the impact score totaled, 1085. West of the Mississippi scored, 635. There were significantly more shootings that occured East of the Mississippi.

Summary Table

state Damage
California 186
Florida 180
Illinois 171
Pennsylvania 98
Texas 91
Tennessee 87
Alabama 67
Louisiana 65
Missouri 64
Ohio 59
New Jersey 58
New York 58
North Carolina 51
Maryland 44
Michigan 38
Indiana 37
Colorado 36
Georgia 36
Kentucky 32
District of Columbia 25
Arkansas 24
South Carolina 24
Oklahoma 21
Virginia 19
Mississippi 18
Nevada 18
Nebraska 17
Wisconsin 17
Minnesota 15
Washington 13
Kansas 12
Arizona 9
New Mexico 9
Connecticut 8
Delaware 5
Massachusetts 4
Utah 4

Of the 1720 total people directly affected by gun violence, 62.09% of those affected occured in the top ten states listed.

Parkland

On February 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz open fired on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He killed 17 and injured 17. A total of 34 were affected by his actions. This number however is not representative of the greater impact of Cruz’s action. Not included in this analysis are the grieving families and members of the greater Parkland community. Cruz was previously expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and was living with a foster family after the death of his mother. He was astranged from his father.

URL: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-respond-shooting-parkland-florida-high-school-n848101

Map

Two insights revealed by this map is that visually, there appear to me more instances of shootings occuring East of the Mississippi river and West of the Mississippi shootings usually occurred in large cities and not rural ones.

Damage vs. State Population

I chose this visual encoding layout becaue I think that it starkly represents the how much shootings affect the country as a whole in regards to the sheer size of the United States. It does this by using color (or lack there of) and differences in length (or lack ther of). One insight I derived by this chart were that against the population of the United States, shootings affect a very, very small percentage of the overall population. The other insight I thought of, after reviewing this chart, is that the impact of guns/shootings in the United States is perhaps overstated by media outlets. Given that they indeed do affect a very small percentage of Americans, why are Americans spending so much time arguing about gun legislation?